Gloucester Museums have a wide range of British wildlife natural history specimens available for you to borrow. They provide an opportunity for children to see the real animal, appreciate its size, markings and features up close. These real specimens provide a good appreciation of scale – very useful for pupils that may have only previously seen these animals on TV screens. Each specimen comes with its own information sheet and ideas of where to find further resources and classroom activity ideas.
A loan of natural history objects can be used in a variety of ways in your classroom to enhance your pupil’s learning. Below are just a few general ideas that can be used with any of our specimens.
• Use the specimens to enhance and promote understanding in Science topics.
- Bring the study of a food chain to life with actually have the animals in it in the classroom.
- Challenge different groups to see how their particular animal is physically adapted to the environment it lives in.
- Illustrate different habitat scenes with the animals that would be found in them.
- Kick start a bird watching project by actually having the birds that the pupils are likely to see in the classroom. It gives pupils a chance to familiarise themselves with the size, shape and markings of the birds they will be looking for, without the chance of the birds just flying off.
• Use the specimens as a stimulus for creative or factual writing, or to practice speaking and listening skills by discovering more about the animal and presenting that information back to the class. If the class is studying a poem or story that mentions one of the animals why not have that animal in the classroom to help pupils understand the inspiration it provided the author. The specimens could also provide a stimulus for music, dance or drama.
• Use the specimens as models for drawing or other Art projects. Victorian and early 20th Century drawing lessons often involved natural history as the subject matter for accurate copy drawing, so a specimen could be an essential prop for those wishing to recreate a school room experience from another era.
• Are you studying a different culture or group of people from the past, myths or legends? Then why not borrow an animal that has links with that topic. For example, Little Owls were associated with Greek Goddess of Wisdom Athena, and the Aztecs believed they were the messenger of Mictlantecuhli, "The Lord of the Land of the Dead".
• For schools that are looking at supporting a wildlife charity or looking at instigating a wildlife corner in their grounds, you may like introduce the notion of caring for wildlife by actually having the animals you hope to help in the classroom.
• The specimens can be used to help dress wildlife corners, or turn areas of your classroom into different locations to enhance topic work. We’ve even has schools use them as props and scenery in school plays. Other schools have had an animal in the classroom to tie in with popular programmes like Springwatch that their pupils are watching anyway, prompting independent work done outside of the classroom and creating a link between learning done outside of the classroom and that done in school.
• Are you tables or school house named after animals? Then why not start off a new school year by actually having those animals in school for pupils to see. Or why not have a class mascot? Some teachers have found it useful to pick an animal that embodies a specific behaviour that they are trying to promote in their class.
Our specimens certainly provide the next best alternative to seeing these animals in the wild – and ours stay a lot stiller and you won’t have to get cold or stay quiet to see them!
Booking your loan
There is no minimum or maximum hire period for loans so you can tailor them to suit you and only pay for the days you really need them.
You can reserve a natural history specimen in a variety of ways. Just pick the one that suits you best! However, you decide to reserve your animal though it is helpful if you can have the following information ready:
Contact name and full address and telephone number of the school
A contact email address (either one for the school or a personal email address)
An idea of when you like to borrow the animal(s)
What animal(s) you would like to book
Telephone – 01452 396139 / 396868 / 396131
Most teachers prefer to give us a ring and sort out the details of their loan in one phone call. This means that we can talk over with you all the details of your loan and advise you if there is anything else you can borrow to compliment the loan.
In person
Both Museums are open Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am – 5pm. So if you are passing please do call in and ask about your loan. If the specimens are not out at the time of booking you might even be able to have a sneak preview of what you are borrowing.
By email
Email the Lifelong Learning & Access Officer direct on Sarah.Orton@gloucester.gov.uk| with details of what you would like to borrow and when and we will organize you booking for you.
Collecting and returning your loan
Your loan will need to be collected and returned to Gloucester Folk Museum during our normal opening hours (10am – 5pm Tuesdays to Saturdays). We are situated at the bottom of Westgate Street. It is possible to park briefly outside of the Museum to collect or return your loan. Most of the paperwork will be prepared for you, but you will have to sign a copy of the paperwork on collection.
Paying for your loan
Gloucester City Museums Service strives to keep its charges for schools as low as possible and seeks only to cover the actual costs of maintaining and replacing loans resources and other services for schools through these charges. Your school will be invoiced after you have returned the loan (unless you need to pay cash or give a cheque on collection or return for a particular reason. In that case cheques should be made payable to GLOUCESTER CITY COUNCIL)
Prices
£3 per specimen per week.
Natural History Specimens for loan
The following Natural History specimens are available for loan:
Barn Owl, House Martin, Badger, Bird Skeleton, Jay, Fox, Blackbird, Lark, Grey Squirrel, Blue tit, Little Owl, Hare, Brambling, Ptarmigan, Long eared bat, Chaffinch, Siskin, Mink, Cuckoo, Snipe, Otter, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Stoat, Golden Plover, Woodpecker, Gull.